Of The Highest Security
by Sleepy Apricot
Summary: (Post season 1) Well shit. Blue is damaged, Lance is thrown into prison until further notice on the suspicion of being the Blue Paladin, and he hasn't seen his team in three months. He thinks that no one knows where he is. Also metric tons of subtextual Klance, but you don't have to squint much. (Ongoing project, 14k-18k when done) Keith, Lance, Blue, Red
1. Chapter 1: Split

He missed Blue the most. If anyone had asked him three months ago he would've said he missed his crew, Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran the most... hell, even Mullet floated into his mind with great frequency. But that was three months ago. Three months since the Wormhole Incident.

And it had only been a week and a half since he's been forcefully separated from Blue. Her easy and smooth tone had been the only thing to remind him to be hopeful at times like this. He dug his head into his hands and pressed his knees closer to his chest. He remembered everything so clearly...

...

The moment he went through the blue swirling vortex the feed on his helmet was cut off. No more teammates by his side. He was all alone. The starry scene in front of him, while serene, panicked him. Everything was silent for just a second, save for the soft hum of Blue's engines he had grown accustomed to, like being in an airplane. The way he could hear her breathe even though she was technically a machine. He gasped for air, fogging up the inside of his helmet.

"Guys?"His voice was a sharp contrast to the dead silence of space. But no one responded.

He tried again, feeling his stomach twist. "Can any- AGH!" He was interrupted by a loud jarring crash. His head reeled as he was jerked around, the only thing keeping him from becoming a human pinball being his seat belt. His head smacked against the back of the seat, sending an intense wave of pain through his rattled skull. Something had collided with Blue. Something big. There was a loud metallic lurch deep inside Blue's chest.

"What was that!?" He asked her, one eye closed. Every light and every color had intensified to the point of nearly blinding him. Blue's head turned and he jumped. It was a giant asteroid. She kicked, trying to get her engines working again, but they were failing. And now the two were being rocketed away, incapable of changing direction. Blue's control room was creaking and shaking, giving away to intense nausea that threatened to soil his armor and anything else that happened to be in the vicinity.

 _Land._ Blue's voice echoed in his mind. _Find land._

Lance rubbed his eyes, but his vision would not clear back up. His hands flailed around him trying to locate the familiar grips of the controls. Her engines may be damaged, but he could at least try to steady themselves. He blinked several times and then let out a curse. He could see nothing. Too many sounds, too much light. One of his ears muted out all other sounds except a high pitched ringing noise. One of his hands found a grip.

He pulled with all of his might on the single control. Lance could not tell by sight whether it was working, but the turning in his stomach calmed down and alleviated the nausea somewhat. _Good good. She's steadying_. With the other hand he checked his head. His elevated heart rate sent a new wave of adrenaline through his body with every pulse, each beat causing an explosion in his brain. He wrenched his helmet off his head, sending a spray of sweat across the deck. "Ooww..." He chocked out through gritted teeth.

 _Land. There's a planet._ Lance took a few deep breaths, trying to block out the pain. If he could connect with Blue he could in theory see what she could see. He knew how much trouble he'd had connecting with his lion like Shiro could do. And he was not in the best head space to try it now. Nonetheless a fuzzy image came through. _I did it! Yes! I guess it only takes a concussion and free floating through space._ Blue was still spinning. The stars were still a blur. But she was right, there was a greenish planet not too far off. In fact, a whole solar system of six or seven planets of various sizes lay out in front of them, with an enormous sun right in the middle.

He wanted to worry about his teammates so badly, but the situation would not allow it. Lance only hoped that they hadn't had the misfortune of colliding with a giant space rock like he had.

"Okay Blue. Let's make this landing as easy as it can be." He tightened his grip on the control, and untensed his body. She guided him to the second control, and he prepared for a tough impact. The planet should have been far enough away that it would have taken a long time to get pulled into its atmosphere. _No, but we're going fast enough we'll get there in a couple seconds. Here comes the hard part Blue._ He felt her nod in wordless agreement.

Lance hoped the little he'd retained in high school about physics would save his life. His lion's velocity increased as they were pulled into the planet's atmosphere. The stars were replaced with the first clouds under the thin outer layer of life sustaining gases. _Time to pull up._ He pulled on the controls, hands trembling and knuckles white under his now uncomfortably warm armor. _It's gonna get hot, I'm sorry girl._ He apologized to his lion. Some of her would burn up on their way down. But he planned to minimize that as much as he could. By pulling up every time they gained too much speed, he could slow the heating process, and maybe they could live when they reached the ground.

Each time he pulled up he felt the slight relief of gravity putting a strain on his bones and his limbs. It was hard enough holding on to the controls when the entire deck was rattling non stop from the turbulence of actually free falling, but when gravity applied, it was a whole new story. His fingers were numb. He was squeezing all of the blood out of his clenched fists. His eyes hurt from squeezing them shut too.

When he got close enough to the ground to see it, a new rush of fear seeped into his mind. The land was much less land as it was a green blur. _We're going so fast. Blue..._

 _We will live._ She replied curtly. She extended all four limbs.

 _Ha. Cats always land on their feet, huh?_ He forced a smile. He may have felt humor on the inside, but his body was devoid of any discernible emotion. She did not reply, but he could feel her cold hard glare burning through him. _Just like old times. Still got it._ He let one eye open to test his sight. The colors were still bright as hell, but the ringing in his ear had subsided and he was able to see what was in front of him. They were close now. Lance was above a forest, about three hundred feet up still. Blue's body was smoking, Lance's own armor searing. They were flying nearly parallel to the ground. His grip loosened. Just a few more seconds and they would have impact. The lion wavered side to side. She was attempting to land on her feet, even though her back two legs were mangled. _This is it._

 _Put your helmet back on._ She ordered, and he did. They braced for impact.

...

He was brought back to reality. The dull repetitive thunk of a prisoner's giant fist one cell to his right had been droning on for hours. He did this a _lot_. Others near him shouted and complained, some even going so far as to insult the guard every time she walked past, and trying to bypass the light green electrified energy shield, only to be shocked and howl in pain. Lance had only ever tried it once. And the scar left on his right hand was, he had to admit, a powerful deterrent.

Lance didn't belong here. The only reason he'd been put here was because some had gotten suspicious about who he was.

He understood why they were wary of his identity. Apparently this solar system was not yet part of the Galra Empire, and their leaders were not happy about the idea of joining them. But at the same time they despised Voltron, and wanted nothing to do with them either. Any association meant being noticed by the Galra, putting their planets at risk. That made sense.

Throughout the last two and a half months he'd been living as a regular citizen of the green planet known as Cortaalis. He spent his days wandering around the nearby cities trying to find the parts to repair his lion. Her chest was split wide open, and massive dents and slashes scarred her. He knew very little about mechanics (that was Hunk's department), but no one knew Blue better than Blue, and she'd been walking him through it. The problem was it was incredibly slow- going. After every long day he slept in the control deck. He could understand why people would get suspicious of the same guy desperately looking for spare junk metal and various different reactors. Lance had made some acquaintances along the way, those who would help him find what he needed, or a close proximity to it. That was a plus. He had to admit it was a pretty nice place to live, too. The cities were large and they were advanced enough for him to find what he needed for Blue. _"When I fix you up, we'll be outta here and we'll find our team."_ He kept telling himself then.

His fatal mistake was when he was interrogated by some officials, some strange orange tinted aliens, he'd accidentally used the name "Blue". That was enough for him to be shipped off to the highest security prison on the planet of Cortaalis. This was the place they sent the baddest of the bad.

"'We'll find our team'. Yeah right." He muttered to himself now. He'd overheard from the guards the other day that news had gotten out about a paladin being discovered on Cortaalis, and the entire solar system was in an uproar now because of him. They'd all been ordered by whoever was in charge to keep quiet while they decided what to do. Some argued that they should just hand him over, others wanted him killed, and still others were in favor of simply shipping him out in a space pod to fend for himself.

His only comfort was that to his knowledge, they had not found Blue yet.

"Hey, keep it down over there!" The guy on the other side of the guy banging his fist against the wall yelled at Lance.

"It's not me Dreks, it's the other guy again." He replied, voice muffled by his arms.

"Oh! My apologies Lance." He sputtered. Dreks was his only ally. A giant dark green alien with some humanoid features about his like his face and hands, but everything else was a wide array of different limbs and spikes. His shoulders were always hunched, and he was missing an eye and many teeth. Dreks was arguably the scariest person locked up here. And yet he was probably also the nicest. _I mean, he's still pretty screwed up in the brain. I heard in the mess hall that he'd stabbed four other prisoners with one of his own spikes he'd torn off of himself to use as a shiv._ But Dreks been sympathetic toward him. And plus, making friends with the scariest guy there guaranteed his safety.

"It's cool bro." He said unenthusiastically. Lance was just tired. he wanted to sleep. All of this noise made that damn near impossible too.

 **Heyyyyyy guys, so... I'm in Voltron Hell and wanted to contribute to the fandom in more ways than drawing and posting stuff, so here this is. And I'm sorry there isn't so much info on wtalf is happening, but next lil chapter we'll dive right into that. Leave a review if so please, and I will be adding more soon!**


	2. Chapter 2: Blue

She lay on her side. Her mechanical shoulders creaked in the breeze as she heaved in and out. Mid day on this forsaken planet. Her blue tail had cleared much of the greenery as she wagged it back and forth, restless. Where was he? She closed her eyes as she remembered one of the evenings they spent in Cortaalis making a futile attempt to combat her loneliness.

...

 _Lance stepped over the tall shrubs, his long legs having no problem weaving through. He carried a large sack over his shoulder, and wore different clothes than before. He ditched his armor in her main deck. Skip in his step and familiar smirk on his face._

 _It was day two of their endeavor. Day one had been spent resting._

 _He heaved the sack off of his shoulder and it clanked to the ground. "Y'know what I miss?" He asked her, rolling his shoulders to get any kinks out. "My headphones." He put his hands on his hips. She snorted in response and rested her head away from him._

 _"Hey don't gimme that Blue! My headphones were a vital part of my sleep schedule!" He protested. "How am I supposed to stay gorgeous without my routine?" He laughed, and ran over to where she had rested her head. He cocked his. She had come to expect this kind of foolishness from her Lance. Doting over the schedule in which he sleeps instead of his lost team._

 _He wagged his finger at her. "I'm tellin' ya Blue, if you could sleep you'd understand."_

 _Lance sized up his new project. She shuffled her weight to face him again. Then his eyes went to her. Warm blue eyes. She'd grown very fond of her paladin, even if they hadn't been a team for very long. "I know I won't be able to reconstruct your whole body, but if I could just get you up and running again we'd be peachy."_

 _he emptied the sack full of parts. "Okay girl. What can you tell me about these?" He lifted a cylindrical generator three times as long as his hand up to her eyes. She got closer to it. Silver in color, various wires sticking out of both ends._

Useless, _she concluded._

 _"Uh, uh-okay, how about this one?" He tossed the generator aside and lifted a bar of metal._

Incompatible, _she said instantly upon seeing it._

 _"You're not even trying!" He flung it aside. "How do you expect me to fix you if you reject everything?"_

I'm not rejecting everything. You do not know what parts I require.

 _"Well then today was a complete bust." He kicked the generator far away and sat down criss-cross. But his hands did not stay still for long. He plucked tendrils of strange greenery from the ground and began weaving them together, brows furrowed and lips pursed. Blue watched intently. This is what she found most intriguing about many biological organisms. They enjoyed making art out of anything. She'd seen it when the Yellow Paladin prepared everyone a quick lunch to enjoy while on a mission and it was the tidiest, most delicately prepared dish she had ever seen an organism consume. Of course Lance just scarfed it down in the middle of flight, but Blue could never get that image out of her mind. They made unnecessary things aesthetically pleasing to the eye and took pride in arranging just the right objects or color or movements or words or sounds together to make something new. In the case of her paladin, when he was angry he would make something, be it a paper aircraft, some sort of folding combinations that made a creature he called "origami", or simply untying and tying the knots on his feet coverings. He made himself busy somehow._

 _Before she knew it her paladin was scaling her head. In his hand was a circlet weaved out of the ground tendrils. he stopped at the top and placed it in the center of her head. Then he scaled back down and met her eyes with nothing except determination. "That's better. Now, Blue: tell me what you need so I can get it tomorrow."_

...

On another occasion he'd gone on about how he was excited to learn that this solar system did not adhere to Galra Law. However they were very cautious not to get involved. They were, as he described it, "totally like Switzerland". She still did not have a clue what that meant. He said they were not fond of whoever Voltron was. They were not fond of either side. That would, as he put it, "throw a wrench" in any plans of having the city aid him in repairing her. Blue realized she needed to be taught human figures of speech, as Lance was the master at spouting one out every other tick.

Blue shifted her weight. There was no way she was going to stand after the landing she had endured. Ninety percent of her body was scratched up, alien plants sticking out of gaps between metal plates. The only place that had gotten the least damaged was her head. She had been very careful to avoid hitting the main deck where her paladin was. She'd been doing her job then; protecting people. Who was she protecting now? She could not even stand on her own paws.

 **Alright, so here's the second part, I really wanted to explore Lance and Blue's friendship and give some exposition from her perspective. I'll probably have two or three more of these between major plot point chapters. Hope you enjoy and please please please think about reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Galra Are Coming

For the alien equivalent of a maximum security prison, things could get pretty lax in the mess hall. Especially at the midday meal, or as Lance referred to it, "Lunch".

He sat next to Dreks, poking at the food in front of him. _Some square shaped... thing, a jello- like... thing, and something with the consistency of smushed up banana. Gross. I miss Coran's space goo._

Dreks was stirring up conflict with some of the other inmates, one leg on the seat and the other on the table. Those around him were either applauding and hollering or booing and yelling at him while he spouted out nonsense Lance wasn't listening to. Lance had his head propped on his arm, one leg crossed over the other, unaffected by the noise. He was thinking. Looking around, the inside of the mess hall may have been chaotic, but beyond the fences that surrounded it there were guards with blasters of some kind, ready to intervene if things became violent. Which they had on the first day Lance had been put there.

He'd been accused by one of the larger prisoners for being "the talk of the solar system", and they thought he thought he was some big deal around here now. Before Lance could do anything Dreks stepped in between them and 'defused' the situation. That's what Dreks called it, but he put the other guy in the medical wing along with two of his cronies, justifying his involvement later on by explaining that he understood what it was like to be ostracized.

If Lance were to try to break out, he would need a solid plan. He'd been thinking of anything he could use as a weapon; the utensil they were given to eat their food had been a candidate, that is until he saw the cooks counting them all before anyone was allowed out. The trays themselves were something, but a small blunt object against a blaster would not do anything. For a moment he was reminded of Keith's fighting skills. _Ha, a guy like that wouldn't have spent a week and a half in a prison. He'd break out on the first day, assuming he was even caught._

The congealed banana stuff bubbled all of the sudden, and Lance blinked at it. If he'd been even the least bit hungry before, he wasn't now. Dreks plopped himself down in his seat, causing all of the treys at the table to overturn. Some of the prisoners threw their hands up in protest and groaned.

"'Ey, was' wit you?" He asked his human friend.

Lance flicked the food off his hands. "Nothin'. Just... thinking."

Dreks' laughter drowned out a good part of the chatter in the mess hall. Lance jumped. When he'd calmed down enough he wiped a tear from his eye. "You are a funny one, y'know that? 'Ey everyone?" He called to his buddies at the table. "This one 'ere's- "Ah, Just thinking". Ha!" Everyone else erupted in laughter.

Lance rolled his eyes. "Yeah, ha ha, it's so funny. Real knee- slapper that one." He half forced a smile.

"Listen 'ere mate:" Dreks put a calloused hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can stop it now, 'ey? No amount 'a plannin' is gonna get you outta 'ere. Ever. Trust me, right? I tried." He held up five fingers. "Six times. Can never catch a break." He shook his head to his buddies.

Lance looked down at the ground. Then he rested both his elbows on the table, no longer caring about all of the 'food' splattered about. "Yeah I know... but do you know anyone who _has_?" This got everyone's attention. They all thought for a minute.

The smallest one, a red guy by the name of Galfogg with a slash across his upper lip and two antennae on his head. "I don't know anyone, how about you Nav?"

Nav shook his head, the tentacles that sprouted from it swinging around, and he took a sip from his cup. He looked at a stout guy, orange tinted and six bulging eyes.

"Why are you looking at me?" He shrugged. Everyone else at the table didn't bother responding to the newbie's question.

"See?" Dreks pressed. "I been 'ere twenty rotations. Twenty times this planet has gone around that big yellow star I been locked up 'ere. Thas' it then."

Lance stayed quiet. Everyone else enjoyed telling their stories until the meal was over and everyone was sent back to their cells.

...

Pacing always helped him think. Granted, there wasn't much space to pace on in a tiny seven by eight box. And he made a note to stay at least a foot away from the electromagnetic shield, just in case. But nothing more was coming to his mind. No more ideas. _Why am I so useless?_ He kicked a wall. _Maybe Dreks is right. Maybe this is it for me, at least until the Galra show up to kill me, and take over the solar system._ Lance would single- handedly, and without much effort even, land seven planets in the Hell Hole that was the Galra Empire.

Something shook the ground, making him break away from his thoughts. The busy chatter from the rest of the block quieted down. Another crash echoed off to Lance's right. His mind flashed to Blue being hit by the asteroid, but he shook it away.

"Was' the big deal?" Dreks shouted from the cell adjacent his. One of the other prisoners was knocked around by the impact and his shoulder hit the energy field. He yelled out in pain, making Lance take a few steps back from his own force field. Guards fled from one end of their block to the other, readying their blasters and barking orders at each other to 'be ready for anything'.

Another tremor shook the ground. Lance stopped a guard. "What's going on?" He asked as the guard ran past him. He just shook his head and ran faster. "What are they so afraid about?" Then a nauseating thought entered his mind. _It's the Galra. They found me. Oh shit._ Lance ran to a corner of the cell and brought his knees tightly to his chest. He'd hoped that literally anyone other than that parasite of an Empire would come for him. He didn't even care if that 'literally anyone' were space pirates. Space pirates were cool. He would much rather learn to wear eyepatches and never eat citrus again than be subject to the whims of a bunch of murderous purple cats.

"Lance, what d'ya think is 'appening?" Dreks asked him through the wall and over the sound of crumbling rock somewhere outside. "Is it- you don't think... is it the people you told me about?" No answer. Lance was trying not to panic. "Don' worry mate. I won't let 'em near ya." Dreks patted the wall.

Lance knew he was trying to make him feel better, but thinking about other unequipped people putting themselves at risk for him made him want to vomit even more. This is what he hated. Not being able to do things for himself, being incapable and having other people get hurt because of it. The ceiling of his cell cracked and some dust scattered on the floor and all over his hair. He coughed from inhaling it.

But then something odd happened. The crashing stopped. People outside yelled and one fired a shot somewhere. But just a single shot. Then everything was silent.

"What the hell..." Lance got up unsteadily. His senses were on high alert. No one moved.

Doors sliding opened and closed broke the silence. Guards pushed something through the corridors and through the cell blocks. Someone. And they were screaming at the top of their lungs.

 _"Why won't you listen to me!? The Galra are already on their way you_ idiots _!"_ Wait a tick. Lance recognized that voice. He craned his neck enough to see the end of the hall, but not enough to get struck by the electricity. That was the voice of the moron who said he didn't remember him from the Garrison. That was the voice of the idiot who said that all of his intelligence could be stored in a paper airplane. This was the beautiful son of a bitch that claimed they'd had a 'bonding moment' that Lance denied having ever happened, but god _dammit_ he had remembered every second of it. And this was the one and only Red Paladin of Voltron that turned the corner, with four armed guards tailing him. His hair was a considerable few inches longer, and terribly unkempt. He wore his paladin armor, only it was dented in several areas. And his silver eyes had dark circles around them.

Keith's hands were cuffed behind him. Lance jumped up and down from sheer happiness. He didn't care if him shouting his name would confirm his identity as the Blue Paladin, he wanted to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. " _Keith!_ " He shouted over the other prisoners' muttering. Keith's head shot up.

"Lance?" He almost whispered. His eyes were wide and searching and he stopped moving, but one of the guards butted him with his gun and pushed him forward, They locked eyes for the first time in three months. "Lance!"

"I can't believe it's you! You have no idea how-" But Keith cut him off.

"Lance listen to me, the Galra are on their way for you, they know you're here! We have to get out- Get _off of me!"_ The guards were basically dragging him away. " _Get out of here Lance, you don't have much time!"_

He wanted to respond, only whatever words he wanted to say were caught in his throat. His sight went away for a second, and he staggered back. The breaths became shorter, until he was hyperventilating. Keith's eyes widened even more. He knew what was happening.

And with that they turned another corner. Lance's heart fell. All of the prisoners stared at him with expressions of bewilderment and shock at the exchange they'd just witnessed. Lance forced a nervous laugh and turned around. His head reeled. Keith was here. Keith was _here._ And soon the Galra would be too. His breathing became rapid and choked. His smile vanished, and his vision became distorted. He fell to his knees. _Oh no, not now, now is not the time for one of these. Too much stress, too many emotions._ His friend was in prison with him, everyone knew who he was, the Galra were on their way. Who was he kidding; if ever there were an appropriate and justifiable time for an acute panic attack, this was it.

 **Oh shit. What the hell is going on? And where's Red in all this? Hopefully next chapter can shed some light on that...**

 **(Thank you all for the support and the reviews, it means so much to me you have no idea xoxo)**


	4. Chapter 4: Momentary Peace

He was in the medical wing. He remembered... someone... a guard noticing that he was not breathing right. He was yelling at him to knock it off. _Don't you think if I could I would?_ Lance guessed they didn't do panic attacks in Cortaalis.

He was laid out on a table, armed guard in the corner. His thoughts were scrambled. He could remember being scared out of his mind... and then a poke... and then he was relaxed within minutes. A purple lady with four arms and a mint green suit looked over him. She shined a light in his eye.

"Looks like the light sedative did the trick. Untensed his muscles, slowed down his heart rate. He will be fine." She turned the light off once his pupil had dilated and set her instruments down. "But you..." She set her hands on the table. "You have stirred up quite some chatter around here." Her face took on a pensive expression. She was making light conversation with him. "If what your friend said is true, we have maybe a couple of Lights." He guessed Lights were days. "...So you're really a Paladin, huh?"

This got his attention. She kept going. "I bet you're gonna get a lot of heat for that. And so is the other guy, the one in the red. The one who parked his lion at our front door."

Lance let out some kind of sound. He was taken aback. _So that's what the commotion was all about._ "Oh yeah." She nodded. "Bumped into our walls a couple of times. Now the hulking red thing has a force field around it and no one can figure out how to get in- and what's with the color- coding?" The lady laughed and sighed. "Whatever happens next, you have for _sure_ made some new enemies."

Lance breathed it, putting in the effort to speak. Concentration was difficult in this deluded state. "So if everyone hates... us... why did... you help me?"

"Because it's my job to save you, not judge you. Look around honey, I'm in a prison. Not exactly the best of the bunch."

He let out something akin to a short breathy snort. _It won't be you who saves us. There's nothing that would stop the Galra from coming here and annihilating this dump with everyone in it, and taking the lions. Not even the space pirates. I'm not giving up. We'll find a way out. We'll find a way out._ He repeated the only clear thought in his sluggish brain until it have him a headache.

 **So Lance is alright. This short lil page is to prepare for tomorrow's doozy! I was out all day and have not gotten a chance to write very much, so I'll put this up now and get the rest done in the morning :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Going on the Offense

Lance barely gotten any sleep that night, even though there was still a trace of the 'anti-panic' drug inside him. His heart was racing too fast for him to get so much as a wink. Mullet was in The building. The first thing he was going to do at breakfast was find him.

While everyone else had been asleep, he'd been mulling around ideas in his head. Ideas about using the key card each guard had on their belt to open different doors, taking their blasters, maybe getting Dreks in on it. All of his plans had led to a dead end, but that did not mean he was done trying.

Through the speakers in the hallway, a loud beep sounded off. "The morning bell." He muttered as a small shock of adrenaline ran through him. _Can never get used to that noise._

He got up quickly and found himself leaning on the wall. _Ow, head rush._ Once his vision cleared up, the green electrified shield went down and he gasped. Now was his chance.

His feet were the first to scramble into the hallway, followed by thirty other tired groggy pairs shuffling through. All headed in the same direction; all except one.

Everyone else was headed to the right where they would be given left overs from last night's meal probably, all rubbing their eye(s) and yawning. But that didn't stop Lance from shouldering his way through the crowd and going against the current. Because he could not physically wait to see Keith after all this time. The last few people walked around him, grumbling about how Lance should watch where he was going. He didn't care. None of it mattered.

Soon the hallway was empty, save for Lance who turned around and around again, expecting to see someone else round the end of the corridor. But no one showed up. _Maybe-maybe he's already there._ He could've missed him in the crowd.

Lance caught up to the others. The crowd was too dense for him to push his way through without inciting his own murder, so he stayed where he was, poking his head above the mass of people. Still nothing. No mullet. Not... yet.

When the horde had dispersed enough for him to semi- politely shoulder his way past, he quickly winded around rows of tables and positioned himself in the middle of the mess hall while the others took their place in a bunched up line along the far wall. Lance twiddled his fingers nervously. _I'm not hungry today._

"Isn't that the Voltron guy?" Someone in line was making light conversation with the guy next to him. Lance's stomach churned.

"Oh yeah. His friend almost killed us all yesterday."

A few others started talking about him in hushed tones, all the while Dreks angrily tapped his foot, switching his gaze from the line to Lance.

 _"Is he here today?"_

 _"Well where else would he be?"_

 _"I thought Voltron was a myth."_

 _"Yeah right, tell that to the bloody red machine out there."_

"Of course he's not here." One voice said louder than all of the others. "Why should he be? He is a danger to us all." That voice belonged to a tall, muscular alien with tan stripes framing his face and down his arms. Flat nose, like that of a feline. Spikes on his head, a gold hoop piercing on one of them. Steely emerald green eyes, sharp toothed grin. this was the prisoner who had attacked him on his first day. The bandages on his chest and leg were still there. "If you ask me they should _both_ be thrown in solitary."

 _Solitary?_ Lance's heart beat quickened. _That's where they put him?_

"Serus, knock it off!" Dreks shouted at him from his place in line, switching his gaze from the line to Lance.

Serus shrugged. "I apologize Dreks, but I do believe I speak for all of us when I say that this imbecile's presence in our midst puts the entirety of the solar system at risk of being invaded by Galra." The crowd stirred. "You heard him, didn't you?" He nodded and gestured to the others. "He said Zarkon knew of this one's location and that they are coming here right now to do who knows what?"

"Serus," Dreks interjected. But this time Lance spoke up.

"And what do you know about Voltron anyways?" He stopped twiddling his fingers and stood up straight. His tone was unsure, but he was done with this dick mocking him.

"... What do I know about Voltron?" Serus sneered. "I know it's a useless war machine, and the only people who would ever conceivably want to pilot it are a lot of murderers and liars."

Lance was boiling inside, but the words that tumbled out of his mouth were sleek and effortless. He was not the best when it came to brawling, but what he lacked in the physical department he could more than make up for in wit. "Yeah, says the guy who's doing hard time in a maximum security prison. You're one to talk."

Serus took a step out of the line, and was followed by three of his allies. "And what say you, Paladin, about the lives the Voltron has destroyed? It is because of the search for the machine that the Galra have torn apart planet after planet looking for it. The machine _you_ help pilot."

"At least I'm _doing_ something about them. I get to fight the Galra head on. What are you doing, what's, what's that- oh yeah, you contribute nothing to anyone and you're rotting in a box."

Seurus shook his head. "Oh I promise you Paladin, you would not be saying these things if you did not have an over- sized _pet_ fighting your real battles for you."

"Come _on_ , Dreks is way cooler than your Discount Tiger- ass will ever be."

"I can only assume that that's an insult. But the reality of the situation is that the Voltron is the most unnecessary piece of scrap metal to ever have the audacity to traipse around space and call itself a "defender". Voltron is not defender of mine."

Lance loosened his stance, showing more how bothered he was. "We _will_ defeat the Galra, and when we do-"

" _Defeat the Galra?"_ Serus looked round. "You twit, you are without your lion! And in here, you are in no position to help anyone with anything. You're a joke! Shouldn't even be calling yourself a paladin at this point." The mess hall buzzed with murmurs, many of them agreeing with Serus.

Lance got an idea. _Keith is in solitary. I think I know where that is. The Galra could be here any second. Now is my chance._ "Oh yeah? why don't you come over here and say that to my face then?" He eyed the mesh door that separated the guards from the prisoners.

"Oh I would be delighted to, assuming you can hold your own against me without your friend to help you out." Serus cracked his knuckles, showing off his razor sharp claws. _I can still probably pull it off without Dreks at my side._

"Lance!" Dreks called. "It's not worth it!" He ran over to his friend and whispered, " I know what you're up to. If you ever want a chance at escaping and soon, you cannot fight him. That right there's gonna start a riot. Riots don't get anyone anywhere, the guards are trained to respond quickly and aggressively to the rioters."

"Really? Says the guy who beat Serus up just last week?" Lance took a shot at cracking his own knuckles, but only succeeded in looking like an idiot. He shook his hands and brushed it off. "If you could be a little more of a hypocrite that would be great." He glanced at the door twice more.

Dreks' tone was saturated in sarcasm. "Ha ha. That's because I've given it up. My reputation 'round 'ere is already set. The guards know wha' to expect from me. Jus' think about this."

Lance took one last glance at the door. He'd have to make this look more convincing. "Dreks I know what I'm doing. Back off, okay buddy?"

And he did. He shrunk away, but followed Lance's eyes as they went to the door again. He narrowed his eyes.

The cooks weren't serving, instead watching in awe as the scene unfolded in front of them.

Serus flexed his arms. "Is your bodyguard off duty?" He jeered.

"As promised. Come at me, Scrub. Unless I'm too much for you." Lance gestured for Serus to come closer. He held out his fists. _Swiping one of those key cards from a guard and hiding it shouldn't be the hardest thing in the world. As long as I'm not caught. I just have to lure one of them out and get them close enough to me without seeming suspicious._

He was almost having fun with this. This kind of back and forth banter was something he hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy in a long time. He clenched and unclenched his fists, smirked, and hummed a little tune to rile up Serus even more. It worked.

"Prisoner! Halt this behavior!" The first of the guards said with authority. _Not gonna happen._

Serus furrowed his brow and stepped forward. Then Lance took a step. All of a sudden Serus lunged at him. Lance side- stepped his blow and avoided getting hit, instead crashing into one of the tables. He hopped over it just as Serus gathered himself and swung out at him. Lance ducked behind the table, turned around, and kicked it in Serus's direction. The table collided with his legs and he was knocked off his feet. Lance got a good distance away, huffing, and he glanced at the mesh door. _Not enough for them to step in yet, huh? They have no issue yelling at us to stop though._ "Of course they aren't stopping us. They hate me just as much as anyone here." He muttered.

A fist crashed into his face while Lance hadn't been looking, and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. "Uggghh." He moved his jaw around and a jolt of red hot pain seared through his face. He began tasting warm blood in his mouth. A shadow alerted him to Serus's presence right next to him; his foot was a second away from connecting with Lance's head. He swung his upper body away and instead twisted around and grabbed Serus's leg. In one fluid move he stood straight up and pulled, making Serus lose his balance. He smacked the ground and cracked the tiles. "Ooh shit, that has _got_ to hurt." Lance taunted while taking a few fleet- footed steps back just in case, purposefully over- acting to further anger his opponent. His jaw ached, but nonetheless he had to do something to paint himself a bigger target. "That one's for my buddy Keith, a better person than you could ever hope to be." Now that one he meant.

Serus roared and got to his feet. He ran at Lance. Using his new audience to his advantage, he wove through the crowd. No one wanted to stop him, for fear of being confronted with an enraged steroid- infused cat. Stepping out from the mass of people, Lance dove under two of the tables and emerged on the other side, having given himself some cover to think. Serus tore through the first table, leaving deep claw marks on its surface. Lance flipped the second table over and used the one at his right as a shield. _Come_ on! _One of you_ _pansie- guards do something!_

"You speak of 'taking me on' and yet you put anything you can between yourself and me. Why is that, Voltron _Scum_?" As Serus said 'scum' he ripped the second table apart and thrashed at Lance's makeshift shield. It splintered instantly. Lance fell backwards and scrambled under the table to his left. Serus leaned over the table to grab it and throw it to the side, but Lance got on his back and with all of the force he could muster he kicked the table upwards. It connected with Serus' face and he stumbled back. To Lance's relief, a few guards appeared from the mesh. _Now to direct the fight over to them five._ They'd sent out some of the larger ones, three men and two women of frightening stature.

"Alright that's enough. Both of you get down on the ground!" One of the women shouted, raising her blaster. Lance more or less guided a bloodied Serus closer and closer to them. Serus had lost all hints of humanity. The animalistic gleam in his eye told Lance that he would not be stopped easily. _Just how I need it._

For the cherry on top he grabbed one of the shards of table from the floor and hurled it at Serus. He smacked it with his hand and it went sailing into the crowd. It made Lance flinch and let out a tiny inward giigle. "Oh-oh, _shit_." A stream of blood drooled out of his mouth, contradicting his mischievous demeanor.

To the guards he put on an overly terrified face. "I cannot stop him!"

"Lay down on the floor, now!" She bellowed, and turned to face him. _That's a mistake. Se_ rus came up behind her and another one of the guards shot at him. _Do it now!_ He screamed at himself and his hand went to the male guard'd belt. But he moved out of the way too quickly. Lace took a few bouncy steps to position himself so that the guards would be in between Serus and him. They were all too preoccupied with the 'beast' to do anything about some flighty kid.

Lance reached out for one of their key cards again. The bright orange thing gleamed in the light, calling out to him. He was only an inch away from one of them, when the guard batted his hand away roughly with the butt of her blaster. _Uuuggghhhh, this isn't working._ On impulse he shouted the first thing that came to mind:

"Riot!" The other prisoners' murmuring had been getting louder every passing minute, and now some were shouting back their agreement. A short and stout violet guy was the first to join in. He was easily subdued by the second female guard, but soon others joined in. _Great. Now that they're preoccupied, let's juuuust..._ Lance had the right kind of cover now to get close enough to swipe a card.

But there were now dozens of bodies between him and any one of the cards. He pushed his way past the first few, being careful not to get involved in their skirmishes with... each other. Lance ducked under a couple of fists and crawled under someone's two pairs of legs.

He reached out a third time to one of the male guard's belts, but he was slammed onto the floor by another prisoner. The prisoner got off of him to continue his last fight, but Lance stayed down. The air had been forcefully ejected out of his lungs and the blow had him coughing and gasping for air. He tilted his head up only to see the first female guard angrily marching up to him. He couldn't stop her, she out- weight him by some seventy pounds and was easily a foot taller than him. She lifted her blaster and brought it down hard on his head.

 **So close! Looks like Dreks was right, rioting doesn't do anything. So what now? With the Galra fast approaching, someone better think of something fast or they're all toast. (Also I lied this fic is gonna probably be way more than 8k lol my social life is over and I have dived in head first into the Voltron VoidTM)**

 **Please review if you want!**


	6. Chapter 6: New Allies

**All I can really say for this chapter is... the feels on the bus go round and round. Enjoy, and please please please leave a review, it would mean so much to me!**

The first thing he thought when he woke up was, _How many days has it been?_

He didn't know why. But there was a deep sense of urgency to get up and move around. _Why on_ Earth _would I wanna do that? My head feels like it's imploding._ He could not open his eyes. Instead he groaned and shifted his weight. The cold hard ground underneath him sent a chill up his spine, and he registered in his brain that the taste in his mouth was a foreign one. He opened and closed it, smacking his lips together. Metallic. _Blood. Why do I have blood in my mouth? Where am I?_ He got onto his stomach and tried getting on his hands and knees. His arms trembled in effort. He forced one eye to open. Dark grey stone. Gritty. Cold. Cracked. He craned his head to look around. More dark grey stone.

There was a low droning behind him. He turned around and sat down, propping himself up with one arm and wrapping the other around his leg. _Right. I know where I am. The same place I've been for fucking forever._ Only now, he'd managed to make his escape a hundred times harder. _Nice going._ He was alone for the moment, all of the other cells were empty.

Lance backed himself up until he could lean on the back wall of the cell. There he let out a deep sigh that turned into a shudder, and the first hot tear rolled down his cheek. It was all his fault. He'd managed to get caught when no one on the planet knew who he was, _or_ what he looked like. It was the easiest thing to do, keeping his identity a secret. But no, he landed himself in the public eye anyways. And then, as a result of him being unable to keep his identity a secret, the freaking _Galra_ were coming to a neutral solar system like the cancer it was to kill him and take it over. And on top of all of that... he'd gotten _Keith_ involved in this absolute mess. They'd been sucked into a Wormhole for Christ's sake! He'd probably been spewed out on the other end of the Galaxy, and yet somehow Lance had single- handedly spelled out his friend's fate anyways. Keith probably hated him.

He let it all out from there. All of the regret. All of the remorse. All of the loathing. The salty tears dripped into his mouth, adding to the sickening cocktail of blood and saliva. He cried until his stomach hurt.

The only thing that made him stop was hearing the doors to the cell block open, followed by thirty pairs of footsteps, all conversing. They all took their respective places inside their rooms and the charged shields went up.

"Lance? You awake?" Dreks asked softly from beyond the wall right of him.

"I'm up." He replied hoarsely.

"Ya been gone a whole Light. Jus' got back from our morning meal." He mused. "I was beginnin' ta' think you were a gonner."

"Yeah well, unfortunately I'm still alive."

"...You okay?"

"... What do you think? We're all about to die. This whole system is gonna have to deal with the biggest pieces of shit to ever walk the universe, and it's my fault." Lance scooted himself next to the wall he and Dreks shared. He could feel Dreks do the same.

"It's not your fault."

"I got caught."

"I betcha your friend doesn't think i's on you." This made Lance stop. He lifted his head from his arms. Dreks went on. "Think about it: that guy, whoever 'e is, came 'ere ta get you. Sure it went embarrassingly wrong, but 'e did it."

Lance felt a warmness in his chest. That was true; he'd gone who knows how far when he heard the Galra were after him.

"Was' he like anyways?" Dreks asked.

"Keith? Well... he's really good at what he does, that's for sure." He laughed. "But he's such a pain in the ass sometimes." Lance went on to describe his friend in great detail. When he was done, Dreks asked about the other members of Voltron, and Lance spared no detail. For the next hour he unloaded everything he could remember about each and every one of them. About Shiro's leadership and bravery, Hunk's friendliness and spirit, Pidge's intellect and toughness, Keith's skill and loyalty. The Alteans had not gone extinct to Dreks' surprise, and Lance describe's Allura's past and Coran's background in mechanics. The more he talked about them the more he remembered, and the more it dawned on him how much he could forget about his friends in just three months. The cell block, unbeknownst to Lance, was getting quieter and quieter the longer he talked about his team.

After describing each and every one, Dreks asked him about his adventures piloting Voltron. It came to Lance that no one in this solar system, or region for that matter, truly knew what Voltron really was or what it looked like.

"... Hunk and I enrolled at the Garrison together a year and a half into high school... high school, it's a place where they stuff you with useless information for no real reason... ha yeah, it is pretty stupid..."

"Pidge lost their brother and father during the Kerberos mission. That's where Shiro was... no they're both still missing. But Pidge'll never stop looking, and neither will we..."

"... So then I thought Hunk was dead, and I kept getting blasted by the Galra fleet..."

".. and then Keith was all,"- Lance did his best Tortured Intense Goth voice- "'I don't think you're using that word correctly'..."

"... She got the weirdest idea to handcuff us together and Pidge provoked Allura enough for her to start a food fight... It worked..."

"...I can't remember what the stuff was, but it tasted so, so gross... ugh..."

"...That's when the crystal was exploded using a replica of Pidge's droid, Rover... I don't remember much after that to be honest- an' don't ever let Keith tell you otherwise..."

"... Turns out the Balmera are all alive, and get this, the Galra had enslaved a whole race of people to mine the huge animal bare... Hunk was especially determined to make sure everyone got out..."

"... And the airlock actually opened on me. Keith got me out before I was sucked into space... I _know_! The castle- ship was crazy haunted- at least that's what I thought, it was really just a virus..."

"... Coran really got all up in Shiro's business about letting Allura get captured, even though it wasn't really his fault... She's probably the bravest person I've ever met... and one of the hottest..."

"It's been three months... it's like a hundred Lights or something... but yeah. I haven't seen any of them in a long- ass time... well, until the other day."

A voice interjected from across the hall. "Wow. That's rough."

"Huh?" Lance scooted himself closer to the energy shield. The guy was an average- sized yellow- tinted alien with one eye. "Uh, thanks-"

"So how big is Voltron approximately?" Another asked.

Lance glanced to the left. "Imagine one of those really big transport ships-"

"And all five of you control it?" Another piped up.

Before he could begin to answer the question he got a slew of others from all around his block. Everyone had been listening to him tell his story to Dreks, and everyone wanted to know more about what he'd been doing as a Paladin of Voltron. One question silenced all of the others:

"Do you think you can beat the Galra?" They all awaited an answer, and Lance searched in his mind the best way to answer it. Turned out though that it was a simple answer.

"There's no doubt in my mind." He spoke up so everyone could hear him. "My friends- the Paladins of Voltron- are the most capable people I've ever met. Each and every one of them is smart, tough, kind, and we're always there for each other." Lance perked up. "That's why Keith came for me." He stood up before continuing. "Now I can understand why Cortaalis might be scared of getting involved, and they have every right to. But no one can stay neutral forever with the Galra Empire knocking at your door. Voltron stands for peace and justice, for everyone. Believe me when I tell you that we _will_ protect you from any threat, no matter how big. Serus was wrong... We _are_ defenders. And if you'll have us... we can be yours too." He didn't know what to say next. He could've heard a pin drop in the cell block. No one moved. No one spoke. It didn't even sound like anyone was breathing. They all just stared at him, eyes wide, shoulders slack.

Lance had to sit back down. He was still tired, and he leaned his head on the wall he shared with Dreks. Even though everything he said had been true, it was all hypothetical at that point. There was no getting out of that box for him, not until the Galra showed up.

The familiar jolting buzz sounded throughout the cell block. Lunchtime. This time Lance was indifferent to it. The guards positioned themselves at the end of the hallway on either side, and the shields all went down. All except his. It took a moment for the first inmate to step out. Others followed him down the hall. Lance heard Dreks get on his feet.

"'Ey Lance," he said in a serious tone. "I hope you find your team." And he walked out.

"Thanks dude. That means a lot." Lance began to drift off. He wasn't in the mood for food anyways.

...

He was awoken to someone shaking him roughly.

"You, get up! Get up, now!"

He opened his eyes to see Nav pulling him to his feet. His shield was down, Nav had opened it. He shoved an orange card in his less-than-ready hands. Lance blinked at it.

Off in the distance he heard a multitude of voices shouting and hollering."What-"

"All the guards are preoccupied. Dreks and the others made sure of that." Nav pushed him out of his cell.

"Are... are they rioting? But- but I thought Dreks said rioting never worked-"

"Yeah yeah," Nav cut him off. "That's why you're not a part of it. They're not trying to get out. They're all getting _you_ out. All of them. Dreks sent me here to give you the card, but I gotta get back to the mess hall before they miss me too much." He eyed the end of the hall as if ten guards would suddenly spill out and end them both with two shots.

Lance was disoriented, but he started running down the hall where he'd last seen Keith, glowing key card gripped firmly in his hand as if it could fade away at any moment. His heart pounded in his chest in anticipation.

"One more thing!" Nav called after him. Lance slowed down and turned around. "Dreks told me to tell you for everyone, 'Thank you for defending us'."

Lance's throat tightened. He nodded. Nav said louder, "And that he's gonna 'kick Serus's ass extra hard' for you!" Lance smiled. He'd been the one to teach Dreks the word 'ass'. With that, Nav turned around and disappeared through another hall.

Lance was met with no guards as he sprinted through the prison, searching for Solitary. And he had no one else but the inmates of the toughest prison on Cortaalis to thank for it. _It's always been my dream to start a revolution._

 **Please remember to review so I can get an idea of what you think so far!**

 **(Also I love everyone who's supported the story this far, you are all great and I am so greatful for each and every one of you)**


	7. Chapter 7: Expanding Your World

**I am so incredibly sorry that this took so long and I know you all wanna see what happens to Lance and Keith. But I had to include some more of Blue's perspective, so here's both chapters seven AND eight so you get both. Sleepy out!**

Blue recalled memory after memory, resolving to pass the time by visiting her memory banks to fill the growing hole she felt from being all alone.

...

 _It was a month after they'd crash- landed on Cortaalis. Blue was instructing Lance on how to attach some wires together in her chest cavity while he went on about a person he'd become acquainted with. He said her name was Idsa, and she lived in the city's junk yard where he frequented. He described her as old and grouchy, but always willing to lend a hand when he needed her. She didn't ask what he needed the parts for, and he didn't tell._

 _"And then she clocked me on the head afterwards! Saying something like-" Lance did his best impression of her, his expressive voice resonating in the spacious gash in Blue's chest, "'You fool! You're the reason I hate the youth!' Like it wasn't_ my _fault those goons attacked us. They only did it because they couldn't stop arguing with me. They called me a 'loser' for hanging out with 'that crotchety hag'. Did she ever wonder how that made_ me _feel?"_

 _Blue purred in amusement._ She seems wise. _She thought at her paladin between feeding images of different mechanisms and how they worked._

 _"Yeah, Idsa's like a thousand years old or something. Can fight like a champion though. Ow, son of a bitch!" Blue felt a tickle as a bolt of electricity passed through a stream of wires, and heard the slap of a spark connecting with Lance's hand._

Be careful.

 _"Don't sweat it, it just caught me by surprise. Ow..." He stuck his finger in his mouth. "But anyways, at least I got that reactor we've been looking for. Idsa helped me get it working. Attaching it to you will take all night at this rate. Connecting every wire takes half an hour, and there's like a bajillion."_

Then why don't you take a break?

 _"That's the one thing I can't do." Lance picked up a tool that resembled pliers and went on twisting the exposed wire into place._

You deserve it. _A small sigh echoed through her. Then the tiny figure of her paladin poked out. He was covered in sweat and black marks covered him from head to toe. He wiped his forehead, leaving another black mark across his face, plopped himself down on the grass and fiddled with the pliers. Blue rested her head on the cool grass._

 _"Hey Blue?"_

Yes?

 _"Do you ever wonder if we're the last ones still lost?" Lance was gazing longingly at the night sky, watching a star shoot across._

...Sometimes.

 _"It kills me to think that they're all out there somewhere._ _Did you ever think that stuff when you were alone in the underground cave? Y'know, before we found you?"_

Ten thousand years is a long time to think many things.

 _"That must've been hard."_

I am okay now.

 _Lance looked at her. She was watching the shooting star, yellow eyes gleaming. "...It's nights like these that make me realize how small I am."_

 _She purred._ You _are_ quite small.

 _"But I mean... I didn't know how many different planets had people with their own cultures and problems. Like, Earth has nine billion people, and it was hard to conceptualize that_ every single person _there had their own life and motivations and ambitions. And now... there's this whole_ universe _full of countless galaxies, countless solar systems, countless planets, countless other beings. It's mind-blowing." He shifted himself closer to Blue._

The universe is a beautiful place.

 _"Is it bad that I would rather go home than explore it? When this 'saving the world' business is through, I want to visit home."_

It is not a bad thing to be homesick, Lance.

 _"I don't like knowing that everyone lives in their own little idea of the world, and at the same time being away from mine."_

But you are not. _Blue nudged him gently with her nose._ Things have changed, yes, but you still live in your world. The difference is, now your world has expanded to mean places far beyond Earth. _Lance took another look at the vast expanse of space before him, identifying the cluster of stars that streaked the sky as the galaxy._ You are part of a microscopic percentage of your race that has explored multiple galaxies. You may miss your home, and I will personally see to it that you see them again, but I beg you not to feel displaced. It is a horrible feeling, one that I have dealt with on many occasions. Your world has become larger, that is all.

 _"Wow... in a way, that makes me feel like I'm closer to them. Thanks, Blue." Lance hugged her snout tightly, smiling wistfully. "The first thing I'ma do when I go to Earth is go to the beach. I've been dyin' to teach my little sister how to surf."_

Surf?

 _"Yeah, it's where you glide on the water's waves with a board. It's really fun."_

How peculiar. Tell me more about the beach.

 _"Oh the beach is where it's_ at..."


	8. Chapter 8: A Long-Awaited Reunion

The prison was hectic, to say the least. All of the guard's forces had been required in the mess hall were the grand majority of the inmates were fighting like there was no tomorrow.

Blasters missed targets, blows were dealt, and Dreks was having the time of his life. He lifted a guard into the air. They dropped their blaster and plead for mercy. Dreks hurled them into the horde of people without a second thought and cackled out loud.

This was probably the most fun he'd had in Rotations. Now that he was fighting for a purpose and didn't have to worry about how he himself would escape, he could practically do what he wanted.

It hadn't taken long at all to convince the others to join in. Most of them enjoyed fighting for no real reason anyways. Walking down the hall he'd whispered to his friend Nav that he would be the one to slip away for long enough to hand the Blue Paladin the key card. Then he told five others, and the plan spread before they even set foot in the mess hall. Everyone from his cell block remained silent while Dreks waited for the other cell blocks to arrive. When every last inmate was in and the doors had been closed, he picked up the first table he saw and let out the loudest battle cry. Then he flung it in the direction of none other that Serus. That's when Lance's entire cell block began to fight. By the next tick, half of the other cell blocks had joined in. And the addition of twenty guards only added to the marvelous chaos.

...

His chest hurt. He'd been running non stop for the last fifteen minutes, and still no Solitary. He wondered if he was going in circles. _All these hallways look the same! Dios, get an interior decorator in here._

He thought of what he would do once he found Keith. Lance wanted to have even ten minutes to sit down and catch up, to slow down and process that they were finally closer to getting the band back together. But that wasn't in the cards for either of them that day. Still, tears stained his cheeks and clouded his eyes.

The hooting and hollering from the mess hall got quieter as Lance got farther and farther away, replaced instead by the soft thudding of his feet on cold hard stone and his ragged breath bouncing off the walls. He passed cell block after empty cell block, with no end in sight. His hair stuck to his head, beads of sweat forming on his brow. Coming upon a forth in the path, he at last took a quick breather. _I'm pretty sure I've been down here before. Have I? Dios, I don't even fuckin' know anymore._ He shook his head. _Idiot, you're wasting time. Just pick one and go._ Starting on the hall to his right, a bone- chilling chorus of sounds erupted outside the prison walls.

Wind lashing against the stone walls, kicking up layers of dust and firing them like bullets at the windows. People's muffled screaming. Blasts fired. _That better not be who I think it is because if it is... they could not have possibly come at a worse time._ Lance's heart sank. He had to see for himself. He searched around for a door that would take him outside. At the end of a long corridor, he spotted a heavy metal door with a small window at eye- level with a clear blue sky on the other side. _Bingo._

The Blue Paladin ran so fast he slammed against the door, and like lightning he pressed the key card on the scanner. _Four ticks it takes to open a door. Six to seven seconds. Good to know._ He made a mental note of it. Opening the door he got a taste of what he'd been missing the last two weeks. The fresh air on his face. The smell of plants and dirt in his nose.

Beyond the door was a balcony complete with metal railing. Lance was on the third floor. And the sight was not pretty.

Dust whirled around everywhere, and he had to cover his nose and mouth, hair whipping in the wind. Thousands of feet away and miles it seemed from the ground, hovered two tremendous Galra ships. They were both partly occluded by clouds they were so high up. If nightmares could dream up a ship... _It wouldn't be half the monsters these are._ They were various tints and shades of grey and sickly purple. Five circular rockets glowed combinations of white, yellow, and blue at the behemoths' bellies. The force it took for these ships to hover was heating up the air and sending waves of dirt and plant life everywhere.

Smaller crafts were spilling from the two main ships' sides, like swarms of locusts. Thousands of clusters blasted Cortaalis troops both in the air and on the floor, taking them all by surprise. Some of the even smaller crafts landed and Galra themselves swept entire acres of native soldiers clean. The soldiers presumably having been stationed there to guard Red. Red sat in the middle of the chaos, protected by the force field, directly underneath one of the two mother ships.

Lance's slitted eyes darted around, unable to process it all. There was movement closer to him. A team of maybe ten Galra, all two feet taller than him and many times broader were headed for the prison, all wearing heavy armor and helmets. They were close.

He ran back inside and slammed the door behind him. "Dammit, where is he?!" He screamed and ran through the maze of hallways once more.

...

Lance was utterly lost. _Not here... Not here... Not here. Don't worry buddy. I'm not leaving without you._

"Hey! Hey you!" The high-pitched whine of a blaster heating up sounded behind him. Lance stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. It was a guard. A straggler. _Dreks you had one job._ Lance dove into the utility closet next to him. He crashed into a bucket and whatever the alien equivalent of a mop was and muttered a curse.

"Hey you! Stop-" The guard was cut off. He let out a strangled cry and his blaster clanked on the stone. Lance took a peak. A Galra soldier towered above the guard who was already a great deal bigger than the paladin. The guard fell to his knees, blood instantly soaking his armor, gushing out of a gaping wound in his chest. The Galra held a jagged sword, soaked in the blood from his victim.

"Finally," He said, his voice deep and silky. "My blade was itching for her first kill." He growled.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to stay still. The longer he waited the more likely those ugly purple cats were to find Keith before he did. The air was hot and stale in the closet, and he clutched the key card close to his chest.

Just as soon as the footsteps vanished away into another hallway, Lance bolted out of the closet, grabbing the guard's blaster along the way. While he did his best to not look into the dead guard's face, it was hard not to. He was barely an adult, maybe two years older than him.

It seemed like there was no where else to look. He'd gone left, right, sideways, upside down, and fucking right _again_. Now as an added bonus, there were ten steroid- infused monsters scattered throughout the place that could be around literally any corner, ready to cut him up and talk creepily to their she-weapon afterwards.

Something caught his eye. There was a small inconspicuous door between two offices. Only, he guessed it used to be inconspicuous before it was ripped open. Fresh blood dripped from some of the scraps of metal. He jogged up to it. There had been a key card scanner to get it. Now the door was simply a jagged hole in the wall. _If this isn't Solitary, I don't know what is._ It was the absolute last place there was for him to check. The 'door' led to a stair case, which in turn led down four whole flights. _Underground I go._ The staircases were illuminated by dim red lights, making it seem like he was descending into hell. The air became stale and warm again. He dashed down the first two when he heard it.

 _"Ah, the Red Paladin. It is an honor to finally have your acquaintance."_

 _No._ Sword guy. A shot of cold fear spread through him. He cleared the next flight in two bounds.

 _"Who's blood is that?"_ A weak voice asked.

 _"Who, this poor young fellow? He never had a chance."_

He cleared the next flight in a single leap. His legs skid on the metal and he almost lost his balance.

 _"Now, young paladin, it's your turn."_ Sword hit electric force field, and the roar of static echoed off the walls.

Lance rounded a corner and there he saw a sight that enraged him. All other cells were empty. The Galra soldier struck his sword again and again on the green shield, grunting with effort. He couldn't see Keith yet. He brought the blaster up and aimed straight for Sword Guy's head. I _am_ so _tired of being pushed around by everyone, and nothing ever turning out right._ This was the one time things were going to be alright. He would make it alright. Lance pulled the trigger.

But the Galra soldier was quicker. He moved his head out of the way easily and laughed without looking at him. "And who's this? Another head for Her to bash in?"

"You can sure as hell try!" Lance yelled at him, shooting twice more. The yellow beams of energy simply bounced off his armor. "Aww, _what?_ Gimme a break!" _His armor is blaster- beam-proof? Of course it is, because things weren't hard enough were they?_

"Lance?! Is'at you?" Keith stepped forward, as far as the green force field would allow. His eyes were wide as saucers, and he was wearing a dark brown set of clothes.

Lance melted with momentary relief. _Okay. He's okay._

Sword Guy said smoothly, "Going against orders and killing _you_ was rather enticing on its own," He gestured towards Keith, and then his eyes locked onto Lance, "but I think it would be wiser to satiate Her hunger and tear _this one_ apart instead. No orders to keep this one alive. What do you think, darling?" He flipped the sword in his hand, making the semi- dried blood drip to the floor.

 _I'm so tired._ While Lance was downright pissed that things were going wrong left and right, he was physically exhausted as well. He fought through it; it would all be worth it once they were both safe. So instead of giving in... he relaxed himself. Even smirked. "Here's what's gonna happen next: I'm getting him and I-" He pointed at Keith. "out of this piece of shit whether you like it or not. Try and stop me."

"Sounds like fun." The Galra said with a steely grin.

Lance gripped the key card in his fist and charged. Sword Guy swung, aiming for his throat. Lance slid under him and came up on the other side (A trick Keith himself had taught him a while back). He slammed the key card down on the scanner. It would take four ticks for the cell to unlock. Only, Lance was ripped away before the second tick, and flung to the opposite wall. _Son of a bitch that hurt._ He got back up, sucking in air like he was suffocating. This would be more difficult than he thought.

He charged again, this time using the blaster as a shield. The sword connected with the metal gun and Lance was swung around. His back collided with the wall, only inches away from the electrified force field. His eyes reflected the neon green in the electricity. "Dammit be careful!" He heard next to him and his reflex response was to groan and roll his eyes. And it was genuinely surprising.

Lance felt a feeling in his gut he hadn't felt since he last heard Keith insult him. Utter loathing. He smiled as he realized that he missed hating this guy. Of course he was probably also going to cry and hug him in due time, but it was nice being in close enough proximity to have the argument that ensued.

 _"_ Don't tell me how to save your sorry ass!" He retorted, and dodged a direct swing of the sword. He dashed away, leading the Galra away from the cell.

"Are you being _serious_?" Kieth punched a wall, voice cracking, wiping any trace of redness around the eyes (and tears for that matter). "I didn't have to come all this way for you, y'know."

"Oh trust me, you were a great help, especially when you somehow got caught despite being encased in a thousand tons of magic steel." Lance dodged another blow and shot one of the light fixtures, bringing it down on the crazed Galra's head. Then he sprinted back to the scanner and tried a second time. He stole a worried glance at Keith, who held nothing back. He rambled, the words tumbling out of his mouth.

"They wouldn't listen to me when I was piloting Red, so I thought maybe if I approached them like a person and not a threat, they'd listen to me."

"So you got out of the only thing protecting you? What didja think was gonna happen after that on a planet who hates Voltron enough throw me in prison?!"

Keith did not have time to answer. "Look out!" Lance's eyes widened and he swung his head around just in time to jump away from a huge purple hand.

"Stay still!" The Galra soldier growled. Lance tried out his aim on the blaster's scope and line it up between the soldier's eye's. But when he pulled the trigger the weapon became searing hot and it let out a spray of sparks.

"Dios, ow!" He flipped it into the air and it clattered to the floor. On the side was the huge gash where the Galra's sword had slashed it. Now it was malfunctioning and it took on an orangish glow. Lance shook his hands in front of him to cool them down, while his broken weapon whirred and sparked. The soldier charged at him and without thinking Lance kicked his gun at him. It struck the soldier in the face, searing some of the fur off. He bellowed.

Lance tried for a third time to keep the key card on the scanner for four ticks.

"I think I know where my bayard is, it's in one of these rooms. I remember they took it-" Keith eyed one of the utility rooms at the end of the smaller cell block.

Suddenly Lance felt a red hot pain at his back and then his whole body was on fire. His vision blacked out for a moment. He cried out in pain, and from what little he could see he brought together what had just happened. Sword guy had thrown the malfunctioning blaster at him, and he'd been pushed into the energy force field. Luckily his body had only been in contact with it for a split second, but it was enough to make him double over and stagger back, clutching his stomach. Time slowed down.

 _I'm about to go down, and if I do without unlocking this damn cell, we will_ both _die. What can I do?_ He got an idea, and he shrugged internally. It was worth a shot. He got back up, ignoring Keith's yelling, took the key card firmly in his hand... and licked it. Then he smacked it down on the scanner. An enormous hand wrapped around his shoulders and under his arms, and before he knew it he was on the ground.

His senses finally came back to him, the pain mostly gone. _I really hope that worked or I'm gonna look so stupid. Keith will never let me live that down ._ But four ticks later, he heard a beep. He tilted his head up. No more shield, the scanner had gone from red to green, and the key card was held firmly in place with his spit. "Bingo." He murmured tiredly, and laughed weakly at the towering figure above him of the Galra soldier.

A furious battle cry like Lance had heard many times before rang out, and the soldier staggered backward as another much smaller figure jumped on his shoulders. _"Get away from him!"_ Keith warned. Lance shakily got to his feet. _I'm okay, I think._

The Galra smashed against a wall and Keith yelled out. He crumpled to the floor. Lance whipped his head around, trying to find something to fight with. In the spur of the moment, he took off one of his shoes and used it as an oven mitt to grab the red hot gun. It was whirring like a tea kettle, and Lance knew it would soon explode. He made for the soldier, who had his sword raised, ready to strike. He dug the gun between the soldier's back plate and his belt, and kicked it in with his still- covered foot.

The Galra dropped the sword and screamed in pain and turned to face him, the gun sizzling as it melted exposed flesh. Once focus was directed back to the Blue Paladin, Keith swiped under the soldier's legs, making him lose his balance. Keith got to his feet, ready to deal some more blows. The Galra grabbed his foot and flung him towards Lance, and they crashed to the ground. Keith rolled off of his friend, and poised himself to jump back into action while Lance struggled to get back up. "I'm gonna go for my bayard. I'll lead him to me, you stay here."

"Keith wait-" Lance protested groggily, but Keith was already half way down the hall, having momentarily caught the attention of the soldier. He stood upright. But Keith's plan had not worked. The soldier had his eyes set on Lance even though the Red Paladin had taken off.

"It is so vexing when maggots get in my way. " He said, teeth gritted. He lifted his sword and dragged it on the metal floor, the jagged end grinding as he neared Lance.

The Paladin backed up and glanced behind him. He was a little ways away from the cell. If he lifted the key card from the scanner the energy shield would go up. "It looks like your friend has abandoned you." The Galra soldier laughed. "Now hold still." Lance's back hit the wall. His hand reached for the scanner. He was ready. Sweat beaded down his back, his heart pounding with great intensity.

Keith bolted down the hallway, armor in one hand and unsheithed bayard in the other. He skidded to a stop bandehind the soldier and his eyes locked with Lance's. Lance nodded, and he nodded back. Dropping his armor, he took a few steps back, and charged. Keith's bayard hit the Galra soldier's back and sent him flying into the cell. Like lightning, Lance swiped the key card from the scanner, the scanner went from green back to red, and the energy shield appeared.

"No!" The soldier shouted and punched the shield. It zapped his fist and he fell back. The red hot gun let out a final croak and exploded, and the guard fell silent.

"Suck on _that,_ bitch." Lance said between breaths, and he slumped down.

Suddenly his friend was by his side, knelt down and shaking his shoulders. "Hey hey, Lance, we gotta go. Are you okay, can you stand?" He asked urgently, his hands moving to the Blue Paladin's face. Lance was finally face to face with one of the people he was afraid of never seeing again. His lips twisted into a smirk.

"Hey Mullet Man." He gripped Kieth's hand, and with some help he was hoisted to his feet.

"If this was any other time, I would break your nose for that."

"Wouldn't be you if you didn't." Lance replied, mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "I think I'm good."

But Keith was hardly convinced. His silver eyes darted around Lance's battered face, as if assuring himself that it was really him. Lance blinked in response. He couldn't believe it either. "I'm good." He repeated.

Keith nodded slowly. "...Okay." And together they made their way back up the four flights of stairs and onto the main floor, Kieth carrying his bayard and armor in one hand, and not letting Lance fall behind with the other.

 **This chapter took sooo many hours over a four day period to write. But I love you all and I really hope you enjoy it, I think there's two more to chapters to go before this story is through.**

 **(Please remember to review, any type of comment would be greatly appreciated and makes me want to keep writing)**


	9. Chapter 9: Game Plan

**Chapter 9: Game Plan:**

Lance faltered. He'd been running directly behind Keith, being pulled along by his wrist that was being squeezed so hard he wondered if there was any blood left in his hand at all. The truth was he was exhausted, and didn't know for how long he could keep going like this.

Keith was relaying a plan to him, but the relentless pounding in his ears was making it hard to pay attention.

"… I'll get in contact with Red as soon as I can, and from there- well- Lance, where's Blue? Is she alright?" Keith asked, looking left and right before continuing down a long corridor.

"She's-" Lance gulped. "She's hurt, she can't get up. Can we…" He slowed down to a slow gait. Keith held his friend's hand firmly as he leaned on a wall.

"We're almost out of here, just a little farther down this way." Keith put another hand in Lance's shoulder, his eyes searching for some affirmation that the Blue Paladin could make it.

"I just… dude, you have no idea how many people have kicked my ass in the last two days." Lance shook his head, amused smile on his face. "I'm so beat. Gimme like two seconds."

Keith pursed his lips. "Alright." His eyes darted around, watching for Galra soldiers. Then he loosened up. "This is why Shiro told you to stick to the training regimen, so you wouldn't feel like crap after taking a few punches. I'm literally holding your hand." And he still was.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshat." He spat back. "Kick me while I'm down, why don't you?"

"It's not kicking, it's constructive criticism."

"I'll construct my foot up your ass." Lance muttered. "Okay, I'm good." He swayed back and forth, attempting to let go of Keith's hand. But his legs gave out and he tumbled onto his knees.

Keith sighed. "Quit lying, you look like you're dying right in front of me." He watched for Galra once more before leaning in close. "We're real close to one of the exits. They have vehicles out there, and I bet I can drive one. That's all you have to go."

They shared a nod and Lance was helped to his unsteady feet. Together they made it to a pair of doors. The Blue Paladin gave his friend the key card, there was a quick beep, and they were out.

The wind had only picked up. The sun was setting, giving everything an orangish tint to it. Hundreds of purple Galra ships had landed all around and were taking on Cortaalis soldiers, winning every time. The invading force was tremendously larger than the natives.

It was hard to see. Dust clouded their vision, and Lance squeezed his eyes shut and looked away, while Keith trudged on. He was more accustomed to dust storms anyways.

...

Keith hatched a plan as he searched for any sort of vehicle. Red was in the middle of the chaos, his protective bubble keeping any type of infiltration from happening. _Red._ He called mentally. His lion's eyes gleamed with life, and his form shifted around for the first time in days. _Time to go._ Keith watched as his lion's shield went down and he bounded towards them through the swarms of ships. Meanwhile the Red Paladin located a vehicle left near the far wall of the prison. Reinforcing the tight hold on his friend, securing an arm around his waist and slinging Lance's arm over his neck, he broke into an awkward gait between a run and a jog.

Once at the vehicle, Lance was helped in, slumping over on the passenger seat. Keith hopped in and started it up. The engine roared to life, and the machine took on a blueish glow. The handles were easy enough to... well, handle. They were basically the same controls he was used to; two handles to maneuver. Pulling on them activated the brake, and pushing on them accelerated the vehicle. And then there were a bunch of miscellaneous buttons scattered on the dashboard that he could not find a purpose for at the moment. He stole a peep at Lance. Eyes closed, head tilted back. Hand on his stomach. He would live. He was just exhausted, that was all.

Keith eased the controls forward and drove the machine in the direction of his lion. But something was preventing the lion from getting any closer. A swarm of Galra ships buzzed around Red, shooting at him from every direction. He was having trouble swatting them away. One ship shot a ray of purple plasma into the side of his snout, and he roared angrily. His stood up on his hind legs and batted that particular ship with his powerful paws. The force sent the ship hurtling, and Red lunged forward and caught it in his jaws, shaking his head vigorously before dropping it with disdain and aiming for another.

He sighed. _We'll have to go to you. Hold on Red. We're on our way._

His lion responded, _Filthy Galra, like flies._

 _I know._ The Red Paladin hid a small smile of amusement at the lion's way of expressing his detestation of the alien race. His heart rate quickened the closer they got to the edge of the battle ground. A blaster went off from behind him, and the shot broke the windshield. Checking one of the rear view mirrors, Keith was terrified to find six of the ten enormous Galra soldiers sent into the prison now sprinting towards them. He could easily outpace them in the "car" they were in, but this class of soldiers were known to have incredible accuracy when handling firearms. Keith swung the controls left and right to try to throw off their aim. His passenger groaned.

"You're gonna make me puke! I thought you were the best pilot in the Garrison." He said through gritted teeth, his face turning green.

"Either you can lose your lunch, or lose a bullet shaped cylinder of flesh through your abdomen: your choice." Keith barked at him.

"Could you at least try to keep it kinda steady, Mullet?"

Keith would have bitten back with a scalding retort, but he had to focus back on the terrain before him. He was only seconds from the first skirmish. Seven Cortaalis soldiers against three Galra. And the latter were destroying the former. The low grade blasters that the natives carried could do little to nothing to deter the hulking purple aliens. Keith dodged the battle, knowing that it would only get harder from there.

"I did this." Lance's voice was a whisper, and Keith almost didn't hear him over the gunfire and shouting. He was too preoccupied with dodging bodies left and right to answer, but he felt a pang of empathy for him. The Blue Paladin's frail- looking body was bounced up and down on the seat with each protruding rock and shallow pothole they hit on their way, his head turned to all of the carnage laid out around them. His lips were pale, eyes half closed and full of pain.

All the while, Keith dodged battle after battle on the way to his lion. He was having trouble keeping his eyes on the road ahead and watching for any incoming danger from either side. He was thankful that both the Galra and the Cortaalis natives were more preoccupied fighting each other to quite notice that two of the Paladins of Voltron were driving right through them.

Red wiggled his haunches and leapt into the air, swiping four Galra ships out of the orange sky with his jaws. His landing was less than graceful. The impact cracked the ground under his paws, sending ripples across the land. Keith tried maneuvering around the ripple, but it hit their vehicle head on. He held fast the controls, and Lance kept a firm grip on the dash.

 _Careful!_ Keith growled at his lion. He crashed back on his seat, he and his companion becoming a tangle of limbs.

Keith grappled for the controls and Lance did his best to scramble away and let his friend drive, fully awake now.

"We're not far now!" The Red Paladin swung the controls around to dodge another skirmish. They were within 500 yards of Red, who was winning his battle with the gnat- like fleet of aliens. Then 400 yards. Then 200. No one dared go within an invisible circle around the lion, not wanting to get trampled, and soon Keith could travel in a straight line… more or less. The dirt being kicked up by Red's limbs was blinding. But something happened just then.

A beam of pinkish light burst from one of the mother ships. The beam surrounded the Red lion. Gravity stopped applying to Red, and his paws left the dirt. He was being lifted into the ship!

Keith wrenched the controls back, the vehicle coming to a screeching halt twenty feet from his lion. _If we hurry we'll get to him in time!_ He flew out of the machine and bounded to the other side, helping Lance out. He threw his arm over his shoulder. The new weight on Keith's slender frame strained his joints, but on he went.

Together they reached the lion's front paw, dust and gravel staining both the Paladins' clothes and stinging their eyes. Their bodies turned pink as they entered the Galra's beam. The claws lifted into the air, and Keith jumped forward to latch on. His hand caught metal, and he swung Lance around, his arm finding something to grab as well.

They held fast to the lion's paw. They were soon ten, then twenty, then forty feet up. Keith didn't want to look down. Partly from all the destruction, but mostly because he was afraid of falling off. Lance wasn't faring much better. His knuckles were white, his head hung low, pressed against the red metal.

 _Once we're on the ship, we'll hijack a smaller vessel and pick up Blue. Then… we'll be outta here. At last._ Keith thought to Red, but Red interjected a second later.

 _Watch out for the Blue one!_

Lance's head lolled back, revealing a numb expression and half closed lids. His eyes rolled back into his head, his grip loosening. Keith gasped and launched his free arm at his friend's. His hand closed around the Blue Paladin's wrist as he went limp. His body swung around in the open air, one slip of the hand away from death. The only hand still holding onto Red's paw was in immense pain. Keith switched his view from his strained arm to Lance. He groaned with the effort.

"You douche!" He complained loudly. "You are _so much heavier_ than you look!" Craning his head back he was able to see how close they were to the Galra ship. "Hold on!" He yelled, both at himself and his friend.

A loud blast to their right caught his attention. Three Galra ships, some of the smaller ones, tailed a Cortaalis vessel of about equal size. They were dangerously close to it. One of the purple ships blasted the green one's wing, and it spiraled out of control, headed for a rough landing. As it passed Keith flinched, bringing his legs closer to his chest. When they were once again out of sight, he shook his head. He knew he had to do _something_ to rid the planet of the Galra. Somehow.

Red was lifted inside one of the docking bays of the mother ship. The doors underneath them closed, and Red's paws once again touched solid ground, except the one with his and the Blue Paladin. He carefully lowered it, making certain to give the Blue one as soft a landing as possible. When Lance lay on the cool metal, Keith let go of Red's claw.

He landed next to the downed Paladin. "Red, open up!" Keith ordered, and his lion complied, kneeling down and stretching his jaws wide. There were no Galra in the docking bay. Not yet anyways. Keith dragged Lance up the ramp into his lion.

He felt relief upon seeing the control room again. Just how he'd left it. He didn't bother putting his armor on, only his helmet as he set Lance down beside him and took his place at the controls.

"Okay Red. No use staying here any longer. Let's find a vessel and get the hell out of here."

The lion roared and ran up to the nearest exit, bounding ahead into the still vacant hangars.

They passed a few Galra soldiers who yowled incoherently in protest, but nothing could stop the Red Lion of Voltron now. They came across many countless empty hangars, big enough to have contained ships that could carry all five of the Voltron lions inside them.

Keith jolted back the control as he remembered- _I have to get the Galra off this planet!_ _But how?_ He spoke to Red. _These ships are huge. Do you think we could get to the engine room and back?_

Red answered, _If we are fast._ He skidded to a halt, and changed direction, now headed for the exhaust vents that would lead him to one of the five engines. Keith fed him the directions. It had been tough keeping his… secret from his lion, since they were telepathically connected. But now that his secret was out, he was glad at being spared the harsh words and possible abandonment from his mechanical friend.

 _I am quite lucky._ His lion mused. _I get paired with the one hu… the one being on Earth who knows how to get around in a Galra mother ship._

Keith pursed his lips and smiled.


End file.
